An empty nest does not have to be an empty life. Judy Holland shows you how to get back in touch with yourself, your partner, your life, AND your kids when the house is less-populated. The transition to the empty nest creates a void that can catapult you into existential crisis. Your zeal for climbing the career ladder, striving for social status, and collecting material things starts to subside, as is common in middle age. Friends and relatives may suffer from illness or pass away, bringing jarring reminders of mortality that trigger a need to make sense of it all. HappiNest helps you traverse this passage with grace by distilling the latest social science research and drawing from hundreds of interviews with those who have gone before you. Whether you’re seeking a renaissance in your romantic relationship, dealing with a boomerang child at home, or figuring out how to support aging parents, this book is for you. HappiNest explores a variety of challenges that arise when the house is suddenly empty or emptying, and Judy Holland provides tips and tools for managing the emotions and realities of this new life stage. From dealing with friends, career transitions, rekindling love or leaving a marriage, to reconnecting with genuine interests and passions, this road map will help guide you. There are hills, valleys, thickets, briar patches, and ditches ahead, as well as waterfalls that resolve into pristine ponds. With mindfulness, hard work, and knowledge of experiences, research, and wisdom from seasoned empty nesters, you can create the most golden phase of your life.

The vivid illustrations of famed Dutch artist and naturalist Rien Poortvliet are admired all over the world. His warm and imaginative portrayals and stories of people, animals, or such fantastic creatures as gnomes are loved by readers of all generations. His countless fans will be enchanted by this intriguing new book, Daily Life in Holland in the Year 1566, And the Story of My Ancestor's Treasure Chest. To create this latest gem, Poortvliet found inspiration in the rich legacy of Dutch landscape and genre painting traditions and in his own Dutch heritage as well. He became intrigued by a document dating from the year 1566 that revealed the existence of an armoire owned by his distant ancestor, Jacob Jansz Poortvliet. That armoire led Rien Poortvliet to come upon something valuable indeed - a treasure trove of insights into the world of his ancestor. Characteristically evocative, the words and images in Daily Life in Holland are rich in detail and delicate in coloration, and perhaps the most beautiful of any of Poortvliet's works to date. In this fascinating saga, he recreates the lives of his forebears as they toiled and celebrated their way through daily existence. He does not conjure up a romantic vision of the past - the Dutch countryside was not all tulips and windmills! There were adversity and hard work, and we learn that 1566 was an extraordinary year in Holland, marked by famine and plague, great freezes, floods and droughts, comets and earthquakes, and an invasion by the Spanish as well. Poortvliet's colorful account unfolds before us to reveal how ordinary men, women, and children lived: what kinds of clothes they wore, what their houses were like, what they are and how theycooked. How did they celebrate Christmas? What did the people do for a living and what kind of money did they have? What did a girl's engagement ring look like? How many different kinds of swords and firearms did they have? Exploring his own roots, Poortvliet captures the beauty of everyday life and livelihood in turbulent sixteenth-century Holland. Rien Poortvliet is recognized as the greatest living Dutch artist. He first won acclaim in this country when Abram's Gnomes and Secrets of the Gnomes (text by Wil Huygen) became best-sellers. His other Abrams books - Dutch Treat, The Living Forest, The Farm Book, Dogs, The Book of the Sandman, In My Grandfather's House, and Noah's Ark - have also won a devoted following. His works are popular as well in Australian, Canadian, Danish, German, Finnish, French, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, and Yugoslavian editions.

A celebration of the innovative, artisanal, and sustainable living exemplified by contemporary Dutch interiors. With a carefully curated collection of interiors, including historic canal houses, restored farms, and green homes, belonging to interior designers, product designers, architects, and artists, this book showcases creative and resourceful living. These properties have been created or renovated and brought into the twenty-first century with typical Dutch style and sensibility—environmentally friendly, imaginative uses of space filled with color and charm and never to be taken too seriously. Each home in the book reflects the personality and spirit of the people who inhabit it. From furniture designer Valentin Loellman’s handcrafted interiors in a traditional worker’s cottage on the Maas river to fiber artist Claudy Jongstra’s farmhouse in Friesland where indigo dye plants grow in the biodynamic garden, Coming Home illustrates fun ideas and easy ways to incorporate individual style into your surroundings. Whether it’s the traditional “lowlands” aesthetic of combining old and new, faded and inviting, into a casual chic or a quirky reinvention of a space that reveals a touch of eccentricity, this book illustrates why the Netherlands is truly loved by so many and can be an inspiration to us all.

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